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5 must-watch movies & TV shows streaming right now
The best of what's new streaming on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney Plus, and more.
Welcome to Boston.com’s weekly streaming guide. Each week, we recommend five must-watch movies and TV shows available on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+, and more.
Many recommendations are for new shows, while others are for under-the-radar releases you might have missed or classics that are about to depart a streaming service at the end of the month.
Have a new favorite movie or show you think we should know about? Let us know in the comments, or email [email protected]. Looking for even more great streaming options? Check out previous editions of our must-watch list here.
New Movies Streaming
“Alien Romulus”
After the first 20 minutes, I was worried that “Alien Romulus” would just be YA Alien (YAlien?), but thankfully director Fede Alvarez (“Evil Dead”) has a bit more in store for audiences. Taking place between the first (“Alien”) and second (“Aliens”) films in the series, a group of young wage laborers attempt to escape their smog-choked planet by hijacking a seemingly abandoned ship. (Key word: Seemingly.)
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“Alien Romulus” checks all the boxes for fans of the franchise — a claustrophobic ship, morally ambivalent AI, a requisite number of jump scares, and action sequences that find new and inventive ways to make the aliens terrifying. There’s a fine line between homage and fan service, and “Alien Romulus” doesn’t always land on the right side of that line. But it’s a worthwhile watch, even if the film doesn’t reinvent the wheel.
How to watch: “Alien Romulus” is streaming on Hulu.
“Gladiator”
Before fully committing to a couch-bound existence this weekend, consider heading to the theaters to watch “Gladiator II” and/or “Wicked,” two worthy blockbusters that form “Glicked,” the heir apparent to “Barbenheimer.”
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“Gladiator II” takes place 16 years after the events of “Gladiator,” with Paul Mescal’s Lucius, the spiritual successor to Russell Crowe’s Maximus, as the man who unites the people of Rome with his performances in the gladiator arena. Director Ridley Scott is a master of spectacle, and Denzel Washington — playing a scheming bureaucrat — has charisma to spare. But Mescal doesn’t quite have the gravitas of Crowe, who was at the peak of his powers in 2000’s Best Picture winner.
How to watch: “Gladiator” is streaming on Paramount+, and free with ads on Pluto TV.
New TV Streaming
“A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”
An unfortunate reality of the streaming wars is that beloved holiday specials once widely available on network television are now sitting behind locked, subscription-only gates. Apple, which owns the rights to all of the Charlie Brown holiday specials, is at least magnanimous enough to provide a short window for non-subscribers to watch the holiday classics for free, including a 48-hour period this Saturday and Sunday to watch “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.”
You don’t even have to sign up for a free trial to access the story of Charlie Brown scrambling to cook a Thanksgiving feast after Peppermint Patty invites herself (and some friends) over to eat.
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How to watch: “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” is streaming on Apple TV+, and is free to watch for non-subscribers on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24.
“A Man on the Inside”
“Parks and Recreation” creator Mike Schur clearly meshed with Ted Danson on his other sitcom, “The Good Place,” so the duo have teamed up again for “A Man on the Inside,” an eight-episode comedy that finds the “Cheers” actor playing a retired professor who regains a zest for life after being hired as a private investigator.
Based on the Chilean documentary “The Mole Agent,” Charles (Danson) is dispatched to a nursing home, where he goes undercover to find a stolen family heirloom. Charles gets to have a lot of fun, reconnecting with his daughter and coming to terms with his wife’s death along the way.
How to watch: “A Man on the Inside” is streaming on Netflix.
“The Sex Lives of College Girls”
Cambridge native Mindy Kaling has showcased her ability to write convincing comedies for the teenage set with Netflix’s hit “Never Have I Ever” and the first two seasons of HBO’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” which returned for a third season this week.
The titular college girls — Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet), Bela (Amrit Kaur), Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott), and Leighton (Reneé Rapp) — are back for their sophomore year at Essex College, though Rapp only occasionally appears thanks to her burgeoning music career. Bela has to focus on school after getting booted from her all-female comedy magazine, while Kimberly and Whitney must contend with the fallout of Kimberly kissing Whitney’s ex-boyfriend. It’s all a little light and fluffy — until it isn’t, with “College Girls” occasionally shooting for Important Moments that would be at home in a “comedy” on FX. But the authentic and funny dialogue and general camaraderie between the girls are reason enough to keep watching.
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How to watch: “The Sex Lives of College Girls” Season 3 is streaming on Max, with new episodes debuting Thursdays.
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